Why Akuma In Tekken 7 Is A Good Thing

Akuma, a name that is feared and respected by all who know the Street Fighter franchise. A man who is still shrouded in mystery to this day. And yet, he is one of the most famous, and powerful, villains in video game history. In a few months, he’ll official make his debut in the Tekken franchise via Tekken 7: Fated Retribution. But, is his crossover inclusion a good thing?

Yes, yes it is.

Why? Because Akuma is a beast, and it’s clear that the team at Bandai Namco aren’t shorting him on his epic power by bringing him from the world of Street Fighter to the world of Tekken. If you don’t believe that, just watch his reveal trailer.

But even more than seeing the Street Fighter style in Tekken, there’s something else going on here. We’ve had plenty of fighting games have random crossovers with no explanation. Or an explanation that made sense. Heihachi Mishima for example was in Soul Calibur II along with Link from Legend of Zelda and Spawn from the Image Comics series. Did they really add anything to the story? Not really, they were just fan service. But with Akuma, there’s something else here.

As you see in the trailer, Kazumi Mishima, wife of Heihachi, calls in a debt on Akuma to get him to kill Heihachi should she fall. She did, and now he’s here to pay off his debt. Akuma doesn’t owe anyone. He killed his own brother Goken in cold blood, so how does he owe Kazumi? We don’t know, yet. But since Tekken 7 is meant to be the culmination of the Mishima family saga, maybe Akuma is the reason it ends definitively. After all, what better way to kill a monster, than with a monster?